


Spoiler

by saccarines (orphan_account)



Series: Shrike [5]
Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen, Platonic Love, Sexual exploration, Types of Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-16
Updated: 2015-02-16
Packaged: 2018-03-13 08:49:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3375263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/saccarines
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jason meets his best friend through circumstances not entirely under his control.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spoiler

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MommaUrsa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MommaUrsa/gifts).



> So, I really had no idea what I wanted to write for you this year, so I went back to all these archived Skype convos we had once upon a time and found like 4 pages worth of Shrike AU info, and I know you like the Arrow fam, so I came up with this? I apologize in advance if it’s terrible, and I tried to check it against the Shrike fic you wrote but I couldn’t find it, and I’ve already bemoaned the status of my internet to you today, so I’m just going to try this while connection seems to be half-working….less than half working.
> 
> HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAYLOR~
> 
> * * *

Jason meets his best friend through circumstances not entirely under his control. Dinah is in Gotham to visit the Birds of Prey, and Jason hadn’t wanted to stay behind with Oliver for three weeks by himself. Roy could have made it bearable, but Roy had been spending most of his time with the Titans, and Jason isn’t part of the team yet.

Still, after spending the first five nights in the hotel room, Jason is itching to do something. He’s got a costume even if he’s not _official_ yet, and he still remembers his way around Gotham. He just has to make sure he’s careful about not running into Dinah or her friends.

Decision made, Jason hurriedly pulls on his tights and modified leotard, leaving the gloves in his belt. He quietly slips out the window, though he’s the only person in the room, breathing in the polluted night air. Gotham smells just as rank as he remembers. The Narrows do, anyway, and that’s where Dinah chose to book their hotel. Something about being close to the action if she’s needed quickly.

Jason jumps across the narrow alleyway, catching the bar of the fire escape across from his window. It only takes half a moment to regret his decision. As soon as the metal takes his weight, Jason hears a groaning that can only be associated with-

“Shit-”

The railing breaks, sending Jason to the alley below. Luckily for him it’s a short fall, and he manages to avoid landing on the pile of old garbage bags. Unfortunately that means he lands on hard, unforgiving concrete instead.

Jason groans, feeling the sting spread throughout his back. That’s going to bruise in the morning.

He’s broken out of his self-pity by a soft laugh coming from somewhere behind him. He angles his head, twisting awkwardly until he’s staring at the back of the alley. A few feet away, a girl stands with her arms folded across her chest, covered from head to toe in a purple uniform.

“Wow,” she says. “And I thought _I_ was bad.”

 

**.:Spoiler:.**

 

“You’re _Black Canary’s_ protégé?”

“Don’t yell!”

“Sorry!” She lowers her voice, leaning forward. “Are you really?”

Jason plucks one of the fries from his plate, dipping it in his milkshake. They’re sitting at a booth in the corner of a dingy diner, and Jason has never been more thankful for Halloween. Their costumes are much less conspicuous in comparison to the table full of scantily-clad JLA members near the door.

The girl is a junior vigilante, just like him. Unlike him, however, she isn’t anybody’s protégé. She’s on her own in a nasty city, and already has a rogue or two out for her.

Spoiler, she calls herself.

“Kind of,” he says, taking a bite. “She’s training me, but I can’t do some of the stuff she can do.”

“Canary Cry?”

“No.”

“Martial arts?”

“Getting there.”

“You’re not like Superboy, then? Or, uh,” she snaps her fingers, “Kid Flash?”

“What, a metahuman?”

Spoiler nods. Her hood is down, mask pulled up over her nose to expose the lower half of her face. She’s young, probably around Jason’s age.

“Nope.”

“That is _so_ cool.” She talks with her hands, too. “Black Canary is a _maz_ ing. She’s in my top three. What’s with her team-up with Green Arrow, though? She’s _way_ out of his league.”

 

 

Jason likes Spoiler a lot. They spend the rest of his trip together, running around on the rooftops and stopping petty crimes.

She’s funny, thinks _he’s_ funny, and there’s something about her that just _clicks_. She teases him about his fishnets, and he nitpicks her fighting style. She supports his complaints about Green Arrow, he makes a mental note to keep an eye out for her father in the news. She says she can’t be spotted by Batman or Robin, he admits he’s dodging the Birds of Prey.

(If Dinah notices the drastic change in his mood, she doesn’t mention it. Jason isn’t sure he could keep Spoiler’s secret if Dinah decided to ask, anyway, so it’s for the best).

When the time comes to return to Star City, they exchange numbers, and names, and swear to keep in touch.

Her name is Stephanie Brown.

 

 

Jason’s first kiss belongs to a man he doesn’t want to remember from the dark streets of Gotham.

Jason’s first _kiss_ belongs to Steph.

They try to date. Jason is fourteen and Steph is almost fourteen and it’s awkward. They like holding hands. They like spending time together, and hugging, and cuddling. And when Stephanie pushes him against his front door on the evening of their first date and lays one on him, Jason sees stars.

But they only date for three weeks, even if they kiss each other for a lot longer.

 

 

Jason and Steph take a lot of each other’s firsts. They plan it that way, really.

Jason is Steph’s first boyfriend, break-up, kiss, and much more.

Steph is Jason’s first girlfriend, break-up, _true_ kiss, and much more.

It seems natural, at least to them, that they’re each other’s first in _everything_. It’s about more than that, though. They both have the natural instinct to be there for each other, for as long as they can.

When Stephanie’s father is arrested, Jason takes the first train to Gotham so he can be there for her. He stays with her family for two weeks before Steph kicks him out, knowing how uncomfortable the city makes him.

When Roy almost ODs, and Ollie ostracizes him, Steph helps him search the East Coast to make sure Roy is okay, _alive_ , and she’s there the first time Jason meets Lian.

When they’re sixteen, and want to experience something new but don’t have anyone to do it with, they have each other. It’s awkward, and wet, and far from perfect, but they care about each other, and they can’t help but laugh through it.  They’re sweaty, sticky, and marginally unsatisfied, but they’re happy in their vulnerability.

 

 

Stephanie is the first person outside of Jason’s family that he loves. It doesn’t matter that they aren’t dating, that they won’t ever date, that they’ll probably never have sex with each other again. It’s not that kind of love.

He doesn’t have a name for it. Neither does Steph. In the end, that doesn’t matter either, because they both know it, and that’s what counts.


End file.
